Citronella Anti Bark Collar

Review by Amanda J. Verbruggen:

I have absolutely nothing to complain about with this collar. I love the non-stim vibration feature, and I have never had problems with the range or quality. It holds a charge well and has held water tight.

I’ve now had 2 innotec and 1 pet safe collar, and all three of them are garbage sitting in a drawer because they stopped working. I never have a problem with my dogtra – it came highly recommended to me by a field lab trainer I used to work for and I’m glad I got it.

Review by M. Mackay:

I owned one collar previous to this one that I would not even use after the first time because the settings were not flexible enough. This collar has a rolling dial that goes from O-100, I have never used mine above 40. There is also a vibrator feature which is great for recall. I purchased my collar from my dog trainer who trained me and my dog. My primary reason for buying this collar was so that I can walk my dog without a leash and still have recall. Since his training he heels great and I can let him run free when appropriate. It also came in handy when my dog was trying to break down my sliding glass door. They learn quick and then there is peace.

As someone who has been working in rescue for many years I can say that training your dog with shock collars is far more humane than getting rid of your dog because you can’t live with him/her comfortably. A well trained dog makes for a good lifetime companion.

Review by V. racanelli:

I can’t believe how well this product works- Especially for off-lead bad behaviours. My dog listens to my commands and does not have behaviour issues- that is when inside, or outside with a leash! As soon as I removed the leash, I was history, especially when he saw other dogs.

I only used the shock mode a couple of times and then only used the vibration mode. I used the unit for maybe 2 weeks and now my dog is an absolute angel and no longer need it. It’s funny how he thinks it is the distraction that causes the vibration/shock, and runs to me like I’m his saviour. Works like magic!!!

Review by Stephen P. Jones:

I tried two different brands and this one works. One of our dogs was the worst barker that we had ever had and just one day wearing the Dogtra Collar and he was silenced. We still have to use a dummy collar but he doesn’t bark anymore. The neighbors now love us. Highly recommend.

Review by Xenia Woyevodsky:

I am not having much luck with the Dogtra YS500 Anti-barking collar. Unless I am a total fool and cannot follow instructions, this collar does nothing to correct my 75 lb. Lab from barking. It may work very well for smaller dogs, but does nothing at all for my dog. I have always liked the Dogtra electronic training collar. That works beautifully, but the anti-barking collar in my estimation is a waste of money.

Review by Tobi’s (the dog) Best Friend:

My wife and I love to hike with our German Shepherd. However, her (the dog) behavior had become an issue. Whenever, she sees another dog or horse, she loses her mind, and we lose control of her. We did not want to resolve ourselves to hike with her on a leash.

Now that we have this device she “comes” on command, and not on the second or third time we call. She comes the first time, and to my hand. Now we can hike with her, and gain control when we see dogs, horses, and those who do not share our enthusiasm for dogs.

I like to add this devise is not cruel in any form. It has a dial of 8 settings. I tried it on myself. I could not feel “1″ at all. “2″ and “3″ tingled. “4″ felt uncomfortable (not painful), and that is where our dog is set.

The only issue is at home. We have an “invisible fence”, which works on a very similar principle. The issue is that when I “beep” her or “zap” her at home, she becomes very confused. Hence, we only use it primarily for our hikes, which was our desired goal anyways.

The conclusion is that I highly recommend it for hiking or rather “off-leash” walks. You may have mixed results at home, if you have an “invisible fence”. Although without the “invisible fence” issue, I believe it would be very effective for any sort of training.

Bottom line is that it works and I wish had I bought this tool earlier.

Review by T. Costarella:

I’ve belonged to PETA, World Wildlife Fund, and I have volunteered at shelters, etc… My life has always had an animal in it and I love animals. That was until my husband brought home a pug puppy. For a year I was tortured by my guilt over my extreme dislike of this dog. She bit, she chewed (going to happen with puppies – I know – but it was INSANE), she scratched, she jumped, she made messes, she started to use my toddlers as chew toys and no matter what we did, who trained her, where we took her – she wasn’t getting it. She has been crate trained from the beginning and she still wasn’t getting the fact that she had to “go” outside. I don’t mean an accident every once in a while, I mean – our living room was her backyard. I was a mess, I was irritable and frustrated with her 90% of the time because (mainly)of her biting. I’ve trained numerous dogs before and she wasn’t getting it. Buying this collar was a last resort and the BEST THING I DID. She had the collar on 2 days and she got it. She got it all. Everything we tried to train her for a year sunk in on the first shock. (And we had the level at a 2!) The kids now play with her, I enjoy my time with her, she enjoys life because she is with us, my older (geriatric) dog is enjoying life because he’s not her chew toy. It’s AWESOME. The fact that it’s rechargable is a plus and the only reason it didn’t get a perfect, 5-star grade is because I wish the charge lasted longer. Saved our life, took away the guilt, my kids love her now(they were scared to death of her before), my husband is happy and it brought peace to our house.(And a house with 2 adults, 2 toddlers, 2 cats, 2 dogs and 3 birds needs as much calmness as possible:)) (Our cats are happier, too, because she’s not chewing on them either!) HIGHLY recommend it and anyone who says it’s inhumane hasn’t seen it in action like I did. She does not wear it now except as a re-training every 2 weeks or so. I used to have to chase her all over the house to get her into her crate. My husband used this horrible, high pitch baby voice to get her in the crate (if you had heard that you would have fainted!). One week with the collar and training – and all I have to do is point to the crate and say, “Chloe – crate!” and she’s in. It’s crazy!

Review by Reviewer:

I bought this when I was running out of patience with my 9 month old German Shepherd mix puppy.

Even after I got this thing, I didn’t use it right away. The biggest reason for this is the included instruction manual. It is an extremely well written handbook for training dogs, and it emphasizes several things:

1. Your dog must know the basic commands like No, Sit, Stay, Come, Down, etc.

2. Try a different type of leash – such as the suggested “Wonder Lead”

3. Use the collar sparingly and as a supplementary instruction tool, not a full replacement training tool

The manual was great and I found it to be more instructive than the numerous dog training books that I had already purchased. I continued working with my dog without the collar, and I bought the “Wonder Lead”, a very simple nylon noose-type leash that relaxes immediately after the dog stops pulling. I like the lead very much – it functions better than a collar that I bought called “The Illusion Collar”. Both serve the same purpose – to put pressure high on the dog’s neck for considerably more control. But the Wonder Lead is simpler because it is easier to adjust and it relaxes quicker since the nylon is stiff.

Until I bought this collar, my dog was impervious to everything. He was terrible on the leash. He would lunge at other dogs and would make such a scene that people would glare at me or my wife, as if to say “What’s the matter with you, thinking you can just walk a vicious animal around in public like that?”. He knew all the basic commands like Sit, Down, Come, No… but only if I had a treat in my hand. Outside of the house he was a different dog.

Rewards or punishment… nothing seemed to get through to him. My wife and I decided one night that we’d take a relaxing stroll up to the ice cream shop. We took the dog with us. We found a table on the sidewalk in front of the store and sat there eating our ice cream, and I sat the dog next to me and scratched behind his ears because he likes that. Everything was fine until another dog showed up, and our puppy suddenly transformed himself from happy cute puppy to vicious attack dog. People actually jumped back because he sounded so bad. It was downright scary and not only were we concerned, but we were also terribly embarrassed. I felt silly for bringing the dog up there just assuming it would be okay. We got the heck out of there as fast as possible.

But I didn’t give up on the walks. I’ve watched every episode of Dog Whisperer I could catch, man. I’ve tried everything Cesar says, and I’ve walked that dog for miles and miles, I’ve said “heel” a billion times, I’ve used treats, I’ve used a pinch on the neck, I’ve tried ignoring him, and he still pulls and lunges and growls at other dogs. I’m convinced there is a lot of training going on that doesn’t make it to the final cut of the TV episodes because I’ve tried everything. I’ll ignore him and it works about 50% of the time. I’ll yell at him and it works about 30% of the time. I’ll reward him and it works 100% the first time, 0% the next time because he just wants a treat and throws a fit until he gets one. The only thing that ever seemed to get a result was that if he was being bad, I would make him lay and firmly hold the scruff of his neck until he stopped panting. Then I’d slowly release him until he was laying quietly by himself and I could walk away. That was a Cesar trick I saw and since it was the only one that worked, I was beginning to fear I would wear it out. But that’s a dumb way to try to be the alpha. It’s impractical, no fun for you or the dog, and half the time the dog probably doesn’t understand why you are mad anyway. I had to find another way. I’d take him out to rural areas and let him run it out. He would be happy, and I’d keep him nearby with a tennis ball or a bone, and lure him back to the car with treats and happy voices. But I still had to “master the walk” as Cesar says.

Again and again I would take him out for a walk, and I just couldn’t trust him with other dogs. And it began to get worse, where even fast-moving kids on bikes would set him off. I was using the new leash with him at that point and it was only a marginal improvement. I worked with him daily, trying to teach him to heel and walk by my side. Finally one day when a dog was passing by, I thought I’d try something new and just relax and let it go, thinking that maybe my tension made it worse. So I let the dogs do what they would. The two dogs sniffed each other, and then my cute little puppy turned into Mr. Hyde. At that point I couldn’t take it any more because I couldn’t trust him with other dogs, kids, and my wife couldn’t take him for walks any more. I was starting to get a sore shoulder from constantly correcting him and restraining his lunges during walks. With this last dog fight incident it was the last straw, so I marched him home, put the collar on him, and took him outside for his new phase of training.

The first thing I did was try to get him to associate the “beep” on the collar with “No”. I did not use the shock yet. I was hoping that by instilling the fear of the beep, I would only have to use the beep later to teach him. Like everything else, the beep was generally ineffective. So we were out on the leash again, and he was tugging and being obnoxious as usual, and here I was saying “No” (beep) “No” (beep) “Heel” (beep) like an idiot. With no other ideas I sat him down, took off his leash, and said “Stay”.

So he started to wonder off in leashless bliss. I told him to come. He would not. He kind of looked over his shoulder with a look that said: “See ya.” So I said “No!” emphasized by the beep, but there was no response. So I hesitantly set the collar on two, told him to come, and when he did not obey I hit the button.

He didn’t even flinch.

Now I had tested this thing on my forearm the day I got it. I knew that 2 and 3 were nothing more than an itch on your skin. But 8 gave me a surprise. It made my hand involuntarily clench, but the effect of the surprise was most evident for me – it wasn’t painful, just surprising.

So I moved it up to 3. I commanded him to come, and when he did not I hit the button. It did not phase him at all, and at this point I was wondering if the collar was working. The same process was repeated until I was all the way up to 8. Finally he jumped a bit and gave me a look like “What the h*ll was that?”. He hesitated, but when I told him to come, he continued on. He continued to disobey my command so I gave him another jolt and he looked at me again, this time with a bit more concern. But still he disobeyed, and by now it was obvious that 1) I was angered with him and 2) he did not care. With one last command to come, I used the button again. He let out a little yelp and came running back to me and sat down. I was elated but I tried to restrain myself. I put his leash back on, hoping to just walk him home and be done for the day.

On the way back, I was lost in thoughts about what I should do with this new power because I was also struggling with causing him pain. One of the reasons I love this dog is because he’s got a lot of spirit and spunk (he’s a brat but he’s a fun dog), and I didn’t want to scare it out of him. It bothered me greatly that I had obviously hurt him. But, just then, my thoughts were interrupted by another dog encounter and my dog’s instantaneous growling and lurching. Panicked, I used the collar and simultaneously yelled “No!”, forgetting it was still set on 8. But holy cow did I get instant conformance. He went silent and immediately lay down. Meanwhile the other dog was going crazy. At that point I ran home with him to get him in the house and out of trouble.

That was about 2 months ago. These days I do not have to use the collar often, and per the suggestion of the manual, I never let him associate the collar with bad things. I put the collar on him when we go play fetch. Sometimes I’ll put it on him for no reason in the house and let him wear it all day and never turn it on. He thinks it is me that has the Magic Invisible Command From A Distance and I don’t think he knows it is the collar. I am at the point now where I regularly walk him without a leash. I let him wander as he pleases but he never goes farther than 10 feet or so. If he sees another dog all I have to do is mutter “No” and he comes back to me and sits. I think that is the greatest gift this collar has given: the dog understands “No” better than he ever did, and now we both enjoy going for walks much better. He has more freedom now than he did before when I was tense and trying to reel him in with a tight leash. Now he can roam free as he pleases, and he doesn’t get into trouble any more. On the rare occasions the collar is required, I have never taken the collar above 4 since that first day, and these days I can take him for short walks even without the collar or a leash and he is generally well behaved. He obeys command, and even though he isn’t a perfect leash dog, he is manageable and my wife can now walk him comfortably. We took him out in the crowds on the 4th of July at the local festivities, and despite kids and dogs, his worst offense was sniffing the butts of other people passing by.

On occasion I still use the collar for corrective measures, but 3 seems to be adequate and it is only a reinforcement of the word “No.” I hope that in a few months I will not need the collar at all.

I am very happy with this product but I think its effectiveness is completely dependent on the user. I do not think my story is the ideal way to handle a dog. I have made many mistakes with him but finally he is learning from me and I am learning from him. The collar is really one path of many to take to eventually build trust between a dog and owner. He still jumps, barks at the cat, and makes a bee-line for the door if it is open, but he comes to me when I call him, doesn’t terrorize the neighborhood any more, and finally understands that when I say “NO”, I mean it. Perhaps I could have obtained the same results with other methods, but I am thankful for what progress I’ve made.. He’s a different animal now and he hasn’t lost any of his spunk – he just listens better. I think that’s all that was required – the collar gave me a way to get through to him.

Review by Arlene Pepera:

It took me over a year to finally try this with my dogs. I was worried I might hurt them or change their personality (one a rescue terrier mix, the other a Soft Coated Wheaten). Furthermore I baby and pamper both of them and consider them family and I felt guilty even thinking about trying this method of training. Dogs rule and Dog is God spelled backward at our house. Both dogs have successfully participated in traditional obedience classes and agility training in the past. Both are very intelligent, but stubborn and a bit feisty. They also love to chase after other animals. I live in a rural area, and while my dogs were obedient in a confined area, or when on a leash, they would not return when outdoors off-leash if they were distracted, chasing other animals, or far enough away to know they could ignore me when called. Mostly I pleasure-walked them on extra long flexi leads, seldom letting them roam free because of worries they would run off and tangle with coyotes or other dogs in the area. When off-leash, they understood what I wanted, but they knew when they were free, and would come only when they felt like it. Actually the first time I bought the stimulation collar, I sent it back because I couldn’t bring myself to use it. Finally, I ordered it again (Cabellas had a better price at that time with a coupon). Sorry Amazon, I love you and consider you the best and always my first choice unless it is significantly cheaper someplace else. Back to my experience with the collar. This time I ordered and kept the collar. I tested it on my own head, neck, and hand at all the various settings. I started with my 2 year old male (the one that loved to bolt as soon as he could get out of arms reach), He caught on immediately at a very very low setting (2 and 3), and I think I only used the stimulation control 2 or 3 times. After that it was buzzer only if needed, but mostly he just comes when called, and comes very fast. Like I mentioned, I live in a rural area, and I am talking about using it outdoors around our farm and on long hikes at home or in parks where it is OK for the dogs to be only in eye sight. I can’t begin to tell you how much more I love hiking with my dogs, and they get way more exercise on a regular walk because I allow them to run ahead, etc. until I call them back. I started with the SportDog 800 model, because I wanted to make sure the range was adequate. In a few weeks I wanted a 2nd collar for the other dog, a very intelligent, but very stubborn 9 year old female. She is alpha dog, she is princess. I wound up ordering a 2nd complete unit, both collar and receiver, but I went with the SD400. I chose this because I learned that by adding a 2nd collar to the 800 I would loose the beep only function on both collars. With better planning I probably would have started with a higher model that would have supported beep only on 2 collars. I wrongfully assumed they all had this capability. Oh well, not a big problem, because I find that having 2 remotes works for me. The 2nd dog, Mila, was a bit more stubborn and she ignored me unless I cranked the stimulation up higher. But she only required getting the stimulation a few times. Now she comes when called or occasionally requires beeped only. Both dogs come running gleefully in the house to get their collars on because they know they are going out for a walk. Any fears I had about the collar being cruel or hurting them were unfounded, and I truly love the collars, and feel they have helped the dogs have much more fun and get much more exercise. I have not tried to use the collars for any other type of training. My only goal and purpose was what I described. I didn’t mean to write so much, but I know this type of training is very controversial. I did a lot or research on the Internet and much of what I read scared me off at first. But this system has really worked for us and our use. I think it’s worth every penny and then some. I am very glad I made the decision to try this. Again I emphasize my dogs were adults, had training, and understood my commands before I used this method. I hope this helps somebody else who might be in a similar situation Happy hiking.